Encompassing an area of 158 square kilometres (61 square miles), the city is one of the most populous and fast-growing council areas in South Australia: the local government area's population in 2021, of 145,806,[4] was an increase of 32% over the 2001 population of 110,676[5] and of 13% over the 2011 population of 129,109.[6]
The Local Government Area's main town centre – Salisbury City Centre – is on the main street of the town of Salisbury, John Street. The centre also hosts the council's principal office, council chambers and library, on Church Street.[7] There is also a centre at Mawson Lakes, a master-planned development that surrounds the large Sir Douglas Mawson Lake.
The township of Salisbury was laid out by John Harvey, who had migrated from Scotland in 1839. He named it after the Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, near where his wife was born. Harvey purchased land beside the Little Para River in 1847 and in the following year sold allotments in the town. It became a service centre for surrounding farms and by 1881 the population was close to 500.[10]
The town council was briefly renamed the District Council of Salisbury and Elizabeth in August 1963, but reverted to its former name after the Elizabeth area was severed to form the new town of Elizabeth in February 1964.
City status was granted as the City of Salisbury on 6 July 1964.[12]
Culture and events
Since 2005, the annual Salisbury Writers' Festival has been held in the city, co-hosted by the City of Salisbury, Writers SA and the Salisbury Library Service.[13]
The city has many recreational facilities and parks. The large St Kilda adventure playground, with its wheelchair-accessible picnic settings, barbecues, shaded area, toilets and parking, is very popular: there is a huge castle with slides and a draw bridge, a bouncy boomerang, flying fox, pirate ship, a large "volcano" with multiple slides, swings and a basketball court.[14] On the afternoons of most Sundays and public holidays, the nearby tramway museum displays all types of trams that operated in Adelaide and has unlimited tram rides included with admission.[15] The St Kilda Mangrove Trail and Interpretive Centre includes an elevated walkway over a flooded mangrove forest that meanders through tidal salt marshes, mangroves and sea grass channels to a lookout that has scenic views across the Barker Inlet.[16]
Sister City
The City of Salisbury has a sister cities relationship with: Mobara, Japan (since May 2002)[17]
Mobara Park in Mawson Lakes acknowledges their relationship. A bronze statue in Mobara Park was gifted to the City of Salisbury by the City of Mobara, but it was stolen in 2023 when somebody used an angle grindr to cut through its angles and removed the body, leaving only the feet. Mayor Gillian Aldridge described the incident as "the saddest thing that's happened since I've been mayor". [18] The artwork was titled Nakayoshi, meaning "close friend".[19]
Councillors
Council consists of 16 elected members comprising a mayor, and 15 ward councillors. The Council area is divided into seven wards, with two councillors elected from each ward.
Elections were last held in 2022 to cover the period to 2026. The city's Mayor and councillors as of July2023[update] (after removal of two councillors) were:[20]
In 2023, Salisbury Council developed a proposal for a Smart Cities initiative, to "improve the quality of life of residents", including increased safety.[24] The proposal was met with community backlash, including comparisons to concentration camps,[25] flyers distributed to residents to "stop Big Brother technologies" and resist the introduction of "total surveillance across the local government area", and calls for protest.[26] The flyers included links of videos featuring South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic, who denied having any involvement with the flyers.[27] The meeting scheduled to discuss the initiative attracted 100 protesters and the venue lost power, along with 1,200 other properties, so was rescheduled.[28] Protesters at council meetings were also criticised by SA Police for diverting resources from fighting crime.[29] At the subsequent meeting, deputy mayor, Chad Buchanan said the council needed to go on the record to dispel misinformation and passed a motion to confirm "for the avoidance of any doubt" that the council was not engaging in a range of conspiracies including installing smart technology "on behalf of powerful globalist bankers that have infiltrated all councils", that the council will not support 5g towers to be used to "kill or maim people", and that the council is not aware of a microchip that Elon Musk had developed which would mind control the community.[30][31][32] The council also decided that the Mayor, Gillian Aldridge, would write to Elon Musk about the claims.[33]
Drag Storytime Event
In 2024, the City of Salisbury planned a Drag Storytime event for children at the Salisbury Community Hub.[34] There were many community complaints and criticism from South Australian One Nation MLC, Sarah Game.[35][36] The Salisbury Community Hub went into lockdown due to several threats[37][38] and the Star Force was called.[39] The event proceeded, with protesters shouting homophobic abuse at parents and children as they attended.[40] Mayor Gillian Aldrige described those who attended as "amazingly strong, wonderful people".[41] The building remained in lockdown after the event and the performer required to stay in the building until it was safe.[42]
↑ The Kaurna people: Aboriginal people of the Adelaide Plains: an Aboriginal studies course for secondary students in years 8-10. Education Department of South Australia. 1989. p.266.
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